Joe Calzaghe believes that his fellow Welshman Nathan Cleverly will profit from Tony Bellew’s anger when the two younger men collide for the second time in Liverpool on Saturday night.

Calzaghe, who retired as the undefeated world super-middleweight champion, was the epitome of self-control in the ring.

Cleverly and Bellew have moved up from light-heavyweight to cruiser for this re-match but the Merseyside man has been festering with resentment since losing their world title fight.

Nathan Cleverly and Tony Bellew went head to head on Sky's The Gloves are Off show ahead of their fight

Cleverly is keeping cool and is determined to win for the second time against Bellew

Bellew is fired up for his re-match with rival Cleverly after losing the first bout between the two fighters

Bellew has made no secret of his angst but Calzaghe warns: ‘All this anger is not good for boxers. I don’t know Tony very well personally but it looks to me as if the hatred is burning up too much of his energy,

‘I occasionally did some stuff for the cameras but it was to help sell the promotion, not for real. I was always cool, calm and collected in the ring and I believe that is very important. You need self-control and discipline in a fight. You should keep your emotions in check.’

Bellew has been anything but restrained in the build up and Cleverly says: ‘It seems he does hate me and really wants to hurt me.’

Cleverly and Bellew almost came to blows back in 2011 ahead of their first fight

Cleverly beat Bellew in their first fight back in 2011 and seemed to show respect to each other afterwards

Promoter Eddie Hearn reports that Bellew is more desperate to win this fight than any in his career so far and does not know how he would cope with losing to Cleverly.

Although Bellew is the more natural light-heavy and will be the bigger man on the night, Calzaghe does not expect that to be to his advantage either. He says: Nathan was having troubled making the weight at super-middle so although he is moving up his speed will not be affected.

‘Bellew is a good fighter and a heavy puncher – but as we all know speed kills.

‘I’m not only saying this because Nathan and I are both Welsh and he is my friend,. I think you will see him relaxed, breathing easily and using his speed and skills to beat Bellew again.

‘Yes, Tony has home advantage but he had that in the first fight and since the hatred seems genuine the crowd might make him even more likely to go charging in. It looks like he’s got bad blood.’

Both boxers have been stopped in world title fights since they first met, Cleverly by Sergey Kovalev who has just ended the light-heavyweight reign of Bernard Hopkins, and Bellew by Adonis Stevenson, but the grudge element in this rematch has caught the imagination of the boxing public in this country,

Not only will the arena in Liverpool will be packed and roaring for Bellew but pay-TV sales projections are encouraging.

Bellew v Cleverly will be live on Sky Sports Box Office on Saturday night